Methods for transmitting multimedia files and advertisements

ABSTRACT

The invention is directed to a method of transmitting a file having an advertising portion and a requested portion different from the advertising portion. The method includes receiving a request to transmit the file, via a streaming protocol allowing non-sequential access, transmitting the advertising portion of the file, receiving a request to transmit a portion of the requested portion of the file prior to completing transmitting the advertising portion of the file, completing the transmission of the advertising portion of the file, and transmitting the requested portion of the file.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of copendingpatent application Ser. No. 12/431,553, filed on Apr. 28, 2009, whichclaimed priority to and the benefit of Ser. No. 12/203,142, filed onSep. 2, 2008, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,565,429 B1 on Jul. 21,2009, and which claimed priority to and the benefit of Spanish PatentApplication No. 200800783, which is entitled “METHOD USED BY A STREAMINGSERVER FOR TRANSMITTING A MULTIMEDIA FILE ON A DATA NETWORK,” and wasfiled on Mar. 18, 2008, the disclosure of which is herein incorporatedby reference; the present application is also a continuation applicationof patent application Ser. Nos. 12/431,563; 12/431,737; 12/431,738; and12/431,743, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,809,790 all filed on Apr. 28, 2009, andall of which claim priority to and the benefit of Ser. No. 12/203,142,filed on Sep. 2, 2008, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,565,429 B1 onJul. 21, 2009, and which claimed priority to and the benefit of SpanishPatent Application No. 200800783, which is entitled “METHOD USED BY ASTREAMING SERVER FOR TRANSMITTING A MULTIMEDIA FILE ON A DATA NETWORK,”and was filed on Mar. 18, 2008, the disclosure of which is hereinincorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates generally to methods for distributing digitalfiles over a data network, in which the digital files contain anadvertisement portion and a non-advertisement portion positioned afterthe advertisement portion, and the digital file may be not be viewednon-sequentially.

2. Description of the Related Art

Known systems and methods for playing audiovisual content protected byintellectual property rights, such as movies or music, employ DigitalRights Management (DRM) technologies in which users pay to view theaudiovisual content which they wish to view without also receivingadvertising content.

Content producers and distributors who use this pay for contentprinciple have been damaged by the creation of the Peer-to-Peer (“P2P”)networks which allow users to exchange files free of charge. Therecurrently are several P2P networks, such as eMule, Ares Galaxy, andBittorrent, which are widespread. The P2P transmissions are systems thattake advantage of the upload bandwidth which every user has in order toallow users to share files. As a result of this upload bandwidth, everyuser who receives data from a file may send the data to other users. Inthis way, a network of users is created who may exchange amongthemselves the data that comprise the file, instead of each userdownloading the file in its entirety from a provider site.

The owners of the intellectual property rights of the files that aredistributed on P2P networks have taken numerous legal actions indifferent countries with the intent of trying to close down the P2Pnetworks. Nevertheless, in many countries, the current legal situationof the P2P networks is not very clear and varies from country tocountry. Moreover, “pure” P2P networks have appeared in which there areno servers that may be closed down. These new networks use newtechnologies, such as Distributed Hash Tables (DHT) that allow thenetworks to operate without any server. Thus, there is no single centralpoint for closing down the operation of the network. To close down apure P2P network, a substantial portion of its nodes must be frozen,which makes it difficult to effectively close down these networks.

Despite increasing popularity of P2P networks and increasing complexityof DRM technologies, there has not been a significant effect onconventional television that applies advertising systems

Another known system and method for playing videos uses streamingtechnology, which allows a user to begin to view the content whiledownloading it, without needing to wait for the file to be completelydownloaded. These known systems may use a streaming protocol, e.g., theReal Time Streaming Protocol (“RTSP”), which is described in the RFC2326 specifications published by the IETF (Request for Comments 2326,April 1998; currently available at the Internet addresshttp://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2326.txt), the entirety of which is hereinincorporated by reference. The operation of the RTSP protocol may beclosely related to two other IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)protocols, the SDP and RTP protocols.

The Session Description Protocol (SDP) is described in the RFC 4566specifications published online by the IETF. (M. Handley et al., RequestFor Comments 4566, Network Working Group, July 2006, currently availableat the Internet address http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4566.txt), theentirety of which is herein incorporated by reference. The Real-TimeTransport Protocol (RTP) is described in the RFC 3550 specificationspublished online by the IETF. (H. Schultzrinne et al., Request ForComments 3550, Network Working Group, July 2003, currently available atthe Internet address http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3550.txt), the entiretyof which is herein incorporated by reference.

A newer draft of the RTSP protocol, designated as RTSP 2.0, is describedin the document published online by the IETF “Real Time StreamingProtocol 2.0 (RTSP) draft-ietf-mmusic-rfc2326bis-16.txt”, H. Schulzrinneet al., MMUSIC Working Group, Nov. 19, 2007, currently available at theInternet addresshttp://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-mmusic-rfc2326bis-16.txt),the entirety of which is herein incorporated by reference.

Another protocol related to the RTSP is the HTTP protocol (HypertextTransfer Protocol) described in the RFC 2616 specifications publishedonline by the IETF (R. Fielding et al., Request For Comments 2616,Network Working Group, June 1999, currently available at the Internetaddress http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616.html), the entiretyof which is herein incorporated by reference.

The RTSP is a client-server protocol based on text messages designed tofacilitate communication between a client and a streaming server, suchthat the client controls the streaming transmission from the serverusing the RTSP protocol as though it were a remote control of theserver. The client may be any equipment configured to play a multimediastream, such as a computer, a PDA, a mobile phone and in general anyequipment that incorporates an audio or video player.

RTSP allows one or more flows of data, e.g., “streams,” to beestablished from the streaming server to the multimedia player. The RTSPprotocol is the protocol that the multimedia player uses to communicateto the streaming server the content it wishes to receive by RTSPmessages. The streaming server also sends RTSP messages to themultimedia player with information about the selected content and theway in which it is going to transmit it to the multimedia player.

The RTSP protocol uses the term “presentation” to refer to a set ofstreams that are presented together to the customer and that are definedin a presentation file called “Presentation Description” or“Presentation Description File.” Other protocols use different names torefer to a presentation. For example, the SDP protocol uses the term“session” to refer to a presentation.

The presentation file contains information about each stream thatincludes, for example, information on whether it is an audio or videostream, the type of coding used, Internet addresses needed to accesseach stream, or the like.

The presentation file may use various formats to describe thisinformation. The SDP protocol is usually the most used, although it isnot necessary to use the SDP protocol, and the RTSP protocol maydescribe the information using protocols other than the SDP. A file of apresentation is normally identified by a URI (“Uniform ResourceIdentifier”). For example, the next URI could be used to identify thefile of a presentation:

rtsp://media.example.com:554/twister/audiotrack

The client may access the file of a presentation using the RTSP protocolor other protocols, such as the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)protocol. The client may also receive the file that describes thepresentation by electronic mail or by any other means.

RTSP uses the term “container file” to refer to a multimedia file thatcontains the data of one or more streams and which normally form apresentation when they are played together. For example, a containerfile may contain three streams: a first video stream of a movie, asecond stream for the audio of the movie in English and a third streamwith the audio in Spanish.

RTSP uses the term “RTSP session” to define an abstraction (for examplea software module being run on the streaming server) that uses thestreaming server to control each presentation it sends to each user.Each RTSP session is created, maintained and eliminated by the server.Normally a client requests to create a session by sending the SETUPcommand from the RTSP protocol to the server and receives an RTSPresponse from the server, called RESPONSE message with an identifier ofthe session created.

The RTSP sessions maintain information on the status of eachpresentation requested by each user. This is an important differencewith respect to the HTTP protocol, which is a protocol that does notmaintain the status of the client's requests.

Another important difference is that in the RTSP protocol, the servermay send RTSP messages with commands to the client as well as receivethem. The following table 1 taken from the RFC 2326 indicates thedifferent commands, messages or methods in RTSP terminology, which maybe sent between the client and the server. The RTSP server may sendpackets of data from each stream to the client using the RTP protocol,but RTSP does not depend on the RTP protocol and could use other carrierprotocols.

TABLE 1 method direction object requirement DESCRIBE C->S P, Srecommended ANNOUNCE C->S, S->C P, S optional GET_PARAMETER C->S, S->CP, S optional OPTIONS C->S, S->C P, S required (S->C: optional) PAUSEC->S P, S recommended PLAY C->S P, S required RECORD C->S P, S optionalREDIRECT S->C P, S optional SETUP C->S S required SET_PARAMETER C->S,S->C P, S optional TEARDOWN C->S P, S required

In these known systems which use streaming protocols, a distributor maytransmit a digital file to a user, and the user may view the digitalfile. The digital file may comprise a first portion which comprisesadvertising content, and a second portion which contains content whichthe user requested to view. The advertising content is presented to theuser before the user requested content is presented to the user.Nevertheless, the streaming protocols allow the user to non-sequentiallyview the content of the digital file, such that the user is able to skipthe advertisement, or fast forward through the advertising content, toreach the user requested content. Consequently, these known systems maynot be effective with respect to achieving the goal of having the userview the advertising content.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, a need has arisen for methods for providing an improvedsystem for transmitting content, including advertising, over a datanetwork, such as the Internet.

An embodiment of the invention comprises a method of transmitting adigital file comprising an advertising portion comprising a first typeof content and a requested portion comprising a second type of contentwhich is different than the first type of content, the method comprisingthe steps of receiving, via a streaming protocol, a request to transmitthe digital file, wherein the streaming protocol is configured to allownon-sequential access to the digital file, transmitting the advertisingportion of the digital file in response to the request to transmit thedigital file, receiving, via the streaming protocol, a request totransmit at least one portion of the requested portion of the digitalfile after beginning transmission of the advertising portion and priorto completion of the transmission of the advertising portion of thedigital file, transmitting a signal comprising an indication that thesignal will be followed by the at least one portion of the requestedportion prior to completing the transmission of the advertising portion,completing the transmission of the advertising portion of the digitalfile after receiving the request to transmit the requested portion ofthe digital file, and, after completing the transmission of theadvertising portion, transmitting the at least one portion of therequested portion of the digital file.

Another embodiment of the invention comprises a method of transmittingdigital data comprising an advertising portion comprising a first typeof content and a requested portion comprising a second type of contentwhich is different than the first type of content, the method comprisingthe steps of receiving a first request to transmit the digital data,generating a first digital file comprising the digital data andsupplemental digital data, transmitting the advertising portion of thedigital data in response to the first request, receiving a secondrequest to transmit at least one portion of the requested portion of thedigital data after beginning transmission of the advertising portion ofthe digital data and prior to completion of the transmission of theadvertising portion of the digital data, such that a first portion ofthe advertising portion is transmitted prior to receiving the secondrequest, and a second portion of the advertising portion isuntransmitted prior to receiving the second request, generating a seconddigital file by positioning a portion of the supplemental digital databetween the first portion of the advertising portion and the secondportion of the advertising portion, completing the transmission of theadvertising portion of the digital data after receiving the secondrequest, and, after completing the transmission of the advertisingportion of the digital data, transmitting the at least one portion ofthe requested portion of the digital data.

Still another embodiment of the invention comprises a method oftransmitting digital data comprising an advertising portion comprising afirst type of content and a requested portion comprising a second typeof content which is different than the first type of content, the methodcomprising the steps of receiving a first request to transmit thedigital data, generating a particular digital file comprising thedigital data and supplemental digital data, transmitting the advertisingportion of the digital data in response to the first request, receivinga second request to transmit at least one portion of the requestedportion of the digital data after beginning transmission of theadvertising portion of the digital data and prior to completion of thetransmission of the advertising portion of the digital data, andterminating the transmission of the advertising portion of the digitaldata.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, the needssatisfied thereby, and the objects, features, and advantages thereof,reference now is made to the following descriptions taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for carrying outdistribution of files from a streaming server to communicationequipment, e.g., a multimedia player, according to an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating multimedia files having portionscontaining content and portions containing advertising, according to anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram containing a multimedia file and a virtual file, andillustrating the process of transmitting the multimedia file when thereis a request to retrieve non-sequential content from the file, accordingto a known process.

FIG. 4 is a diagram containing a multimedia file and two virtual files,and illustrating the process of transmitting the multimedia file whenthere is a request to retrieve non-sequential content from the file,according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram containing a multimedia file and two virtual files,and illustrating the process of transmitting the multimedia file whenthere is a request to retrieve non-sequential content from the file,according to another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram containing a multimedia file and two virtual files,and illustrating the process of transmitting the multimedia file whenthere is a request to retrieve non-sequential content from the file,according to still another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram containing a multimedia file and two virtual files,and illustrating the process of transmitting the multimedia file whenthere is a request to retrieve non-sequential content from the file,according to yet another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a verification carried out accordingto an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention and their advantages may beunderstood by referring to FIGS. 1-8, like numerals being used for likecorresponding parts in the various drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, a device 102, e.g., a personal computer, a PDA, amobile phone, or any other device configured to play or display any typeof media, may comprise a media player, e.g., multimedia player 101.Device 102 may communicate with a server, e.g., a streaming server 100.Streaming server 100 may be a streaming server that uses the RTSP andRTP protocols. Device 102 may be a personal computer, a PDA, a mobilephone or any other device that may comprise a multimedia player 101.

Streaming server 100 may comprise an RTSP module 105 and an RTP module106, which may be used in an application 109. Application 109 mayperform streaming functions in server 100. RTSP module 105 and RTPmodule 106 may control RTSP and RTP communications, respectively, withthe multimedia player 101. RSTP module 105 and RTP module 106 mayoperate in a coordinated manner in the streaming server, and maycommunicate between themselves via a communication path, e.g., line 107.

The streaming server 100 also may comprise a database or storage means108 which may store files, e.g., multimedia files, audio files, videofiles, and the like. The streaming server 100 may combine variousmultimedia files in order to generate new multimedia files.Specifically, streaming server 100 may combine advertising files withcontent files in order to generate a multimedia file that containsadvertising and content. A user of multimedia player 101 may request aspecific file or a file of a specific content, which streaming server100 may retrieve from storage means 108.

As shown in FIG. 1, RTSP communication between multimedia player 101 andRTSP module 105 of streaming server 100 may be carried out via acommunication path, e.g., line 103. This communication may comprise themultimedia player 101 and the streaming server 100 exchanging messagesin the RTSP protocol.

RTP communication may be carried out via a communication path, e.g.,line 104 and may be used, such that the streaming server 100 sends RTPpackets to the multimedia player 101 and also, such that the streamingserver 100 and the multimedia player 101 may exchange some controlpackets using a Real-Time Control Protocol, (“RTCP”), which may be apart of the RTP protocol. Communications represented by lines 103 and104 may be a portion of a data network 150, e.g., the Internet, a LocalArea Network (“LAN”), a Wide Area Network (“WAN”), or the like.

FIG. 1 displays RTSP and RTP communications as two lines. One line mayrepresent RTSP communications and another line may represent RTP andRTCP communications. Nevertheless, in an embodiment of the invention,both communications also may function by sharing the same TCP/IPconnection. In another embodiment of the invention, the RTP protocol mayuses two different TCP/IP connections, e.g., a first connection for theRTP packets and a second connection for the RTCP packets.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a multimedia file 210 may comprise one or morestreams, e.g., audio streams, video streams, streams containing moviesand songs or portions of movies and songs, and the like. Multimedia file210 may comprise a first portion, e.g., advertising portion 211, and asecond portion, e.g., content portion 212. The protocol may be designed,such that a user may send an instruction for multimedia player 101 toskip advertising portion 211, represented in FIG. 2 by line 213.Multimedia file 220 may comprise a plurality of, e.g., three,advertising portions, e.g., advertising portions 221, 223 and 225, and aplurality of, e.g., three, content portions, e.g., content portions 222,224 and 226. Although FIG. 2 illustrates three advertising portions andthree content portions, multimedia files which contain different numbersof advertising portions and content portions may be used. In FIG. 2, auser of a multimedia player 101 may send an instruction for multimediaplayer 101 to skip the advertising as shown by line 227.

FIG. 3 illustrates an operation that prevents the multimedia player 101from skipping the advertising of a transmission of a multimedia file 310transmitted by streaming server 100, according to an embodiment of theinvention. In order to simplify the explanation, FIG. 3 shows a file 310that contains advertising portions 311 and 312 before a single contentportion 313. Nevertheless, fewer or more advertising portions, orcontent portions, or both, may be present. File 310 may be a multimediafile or “container file” stored in the database 108 of the streamingserver 100. Multimedia file 310 may contain various audio and videostreams that may not be shown, in order to simplify the figure.Multimedia file 310 may have an order of transmission, such thatadvertising portions 311 and 312 may be transmitted prior totransmission of content portion 313.

Streaming server 100 may receive, by the RTSP protocol, a message, e.g.,a SETUP message, which may cause streaming server 100 to prepare amultimedia transmission. Upon receiving the message, streaming server100 may create an RTSP session and may send a message, e.g., a RESPONSEmessage, to multimedia player 101. The RESPONSE message may comprise theinformation needed for multimedia player 101 to send RTSP message usingthe RSTP session created by streaming server 100. Streaming server 100then may receive a message, e.g., a first PLAY message, to initiate thetransmission of the content of file 310 from its beginning Thistransmission may be indicated in FIG. 3 by arrow 314.

Upon receiving the first PLAY message in the RTSP protocol, streamingserver 100 may initiate a multimedia transmission of file 310 tomultimedia player 101 using the RTP protocol, and may send themultimedia information in RTP packets through the RTP communication.When the streaming server 100 has transmitted a first portion of thefile 310, e.g., advertising portion 311, the streaming server 100 mayreceive, by the RTSP protocol, a message, e.g., a second PLAY message,with a new play range that may requests that the streaming server 100send the multimedia, such that the multimedia player 101 continuesplaying the multimedia file 330 starting from a specific point, e.g.,the point indicated by arrow 316 in FIG. 3.

By sending the request to continue playing starting from a specificpoint, multimedia player 101 may be indicating a request to skipadvertising portion 312, at a specific point, e.g., the point at arrow315, in order to begin viewing content portion 313. A known streamingserver may make the skip, represented by line 319, and may begin to playcontent 313 without transmitting advertising 312. However, the streamingserver 100 described in an embodiment of the invention may perform anoperation, e.g., a “virtual RTSP skip” and may continue transmittinginformation 312 from the multimedia file. Streaming server 100 may sendan RTSP response message of the type “RESPONSE, 200, OK” to multimediaplayer 101, instructing it to process its play order starting from point316. Nevertheless, streaming server 100 continues transmitting RTPpackets whose content corresponds to the portion 312 and not the portion313. Streaming server 100 may accomplish this by creating a virtual file330. Virtual file 330 may be created by streaming server 100 based on acombination of file 310 and requested skip 319. In virtual file 330,advertising 312 and content 313 may be displaced with respect to thenormal order of file 310. This displacement may be indicated in FIG. 3by broken lines 321, 322 and 323. Portions 312 and 313 of the file 310may correspond to portions 332 and 333, respectively, of virtual file330. The start position and finish position of file 310 may correspondto the start position and finish position of file 330, as shown in FIG.3 by broken lines 324 and 326, respectively. Additionally, the portionof the advertising portion that already has been played, correspondingto portion 311 of original file 310, may correspond to portion 331 ofvirtual file 330, up to the point at which the second PLAY message isreceived, shown by arrow 315 and broken line 325.

The virtual file 330, for example, may be a file that is created andstored in a database or other storage means of the streaming server 100.However, this solution requires processing time in the streaming server100 to create the virtual file 330. To avoid this problem of processingtime, virtual file 330 may be an object, e.g., a component programmed inthe C++ language, that may run in streaming server 100, and that mayread the information from file 310 and transmit it to the RTSP and RTPmodules of the streaming server 100 as though it were the file 330, thusobviating the need to create the file 330. Thus, file 330 may be creatednot as a stored file, but rather as virtual file that is accessed bymeans of the component that is run on streaming server 100.

Streaming server 100 may receive the second PLAY message, which mayinstruct streaming server 100 to play the range starting at the pointindicated by arrow 316.

In response to this message, streaming server 100 may send a responsesignal, e.g., an RTSP RESPONSE message, to multimedia player 101,indicating that the range starting at the point indicated by arrow 316may begin playing. After this signal is sent, and in response to thereceived second PLAY message, streaming server 100 may transmit therequested range. Nevertheless, streaming server 100 may apply therequested range to virtual file 330, instead of file 310. This may causeadvertising 312 not to be skipped, even though a skip to the pointindicated by arrow 316 was executed. Rather, the content located at thecorresponding point in virtual file 330, e.g., corresponding advertising332, may be sent. Further, because multimedia player 101 receives amessage indicating a successful execution of the command to play therange starting at arrow 316, from the perspective of a viewer watchingthe content of multimedia player 101, streaming server 100 appears notto have received the second PLAY message, instructing streaming server100 to skip the advertising. Nevertheless, from the perspective ofmultimedia player 101, streaming server 100 appears to have executed thecommand as requested. Further, streaming server 100 may transmit virtualfile 330 using the same RTSP session that streaming server 100 used totransmit the multimedia file 310 prior to the virtual RTSP skip, therebymaking the process transparent to multimedia player 101.

In this way, the streaming server 100 may change from sampling file 310to sampling virtual file 330 without modifying the parameters of thestreaming transmission. For example, streaming server 100 may maintainthe values of the Pipelined-Request, Session and SSRC fields of the RTSPprotocol, as well as the clocks used to calculate the timestamp value ofthe RTP packets and the “wall clock” used for the NTP timestamp fieldsof the SR-type control packets of the RTCP protocol.

In an embodiment of the invention, streaming server 100 uses the RTSPand RTP protocols to perform the virtual skip illustrated in FIG. 3 bytaking advantage of some characteristics of the RTP and RTSP protocols,as described in more detail herein. Specifically, in order to perform a“virtual RTSP skip,” streaming server 100 may coordinates operation ofthe RTSP and RTP modules of the streaming server 100 using headers ofthe RTSP messages called “Range” and “RTP-Info” that allow themultimedia player 101 to know what portion of the file the informationpertains to for each RTP packet it receives.

A brief explanation is provided herein of the meaning of some fieldsthat are found in the RTP packets and which are used in the presentinvention. The detailed information about the RTP protocol may be foundin the RFC 3550 specifications referenced previously in thisapplication. The “Payload” field at the end of the RTP packet maycomprise the content of the stream, e.g., audio, video, sampled audio,sampled video, and the like. The “Sequence number” of the RTP datapackets may be a 16-bit integer number that may be configured toincrease by one unit each time an RTP packet of a stream is transmitted.It may be used, such that the receiver of the RTP packets may identifylost data packets and may order the RTP packets which arrive to thereceiver in a different order than the order in which they were sent.The “Synchronization source (SSRC) identifier” field may be a 32-bitfield used as a unique identifier. Each RTP stream sent by each datasource sends, e.g., each stream sent by streaming server 100, has aunique SSRC identifier. If a server sends multiple streams in amultimedia transmission, such as audio and video, each stream may haveits own SSRC identifier.

The “Timestamp” field may be a 32-bit integer number that may indicatesthe time when the sampling of the first byte of the content data of theRTP packet is performed, e.g., the time when the first byte of thePayload has been sampled. Each stream in the same RTSP session that istransmitted by RTP packets may use its own “RTP clock” to calculate thetime at which the sampling of the first byte is performed. The RTP clockof each stream may be a clock that increases linearly and constantly.When the clock reaches its maximum value, e.g., 2³²-1 for a 32-bitnumber, the clock may reset and start again at zero. For securityreasons, the initial value of timestamp field may be randomly selected.The timestamp values of different streams of the same multimedia filethat is transmitted using the RTP protocol may increase at differentspeeds and may take different initial values. In this way, for eachstream that streaming server 100 transmits, streaming server 100 alsomay generate a timeline for that stream. For example, if a user isplaying a content that has multiple streams, and the user delays theplaying of that content for 20 seconds, e.g., the user sends a PAUSEcommand in the RTSP protocol, waits 20 seconds, and then sends a PLAYcommand, the RTP clocks of each stream that the RTP module of thestreaming server 100 uses to calculate the timestamp may continueadvancing regularly during those 20 seconds. When the user startsplaying the content again, the value of the timestamp field of the newRTP packets that the streaming server 100 sends may have increased andmay show the value of the clocks at the moment the sampling of the firstbyte of the content of each new RTP packet sent is performed.

Nevertheless, the order in which the data are sampled may not be thesame order in which the data are sent, nor is this necessary for asuccessful data transmission. For example, MPEG video may transmit thevideo frames in a different order from the sampling order. For thisreason the receiver may use the timestamp field and not the “Sequencenumber” field to determine the order in which the content should beplayed. In the audio samples a clock may be used which may have the sameincrement speed as the sampling frequency, e.g., the clock associatedwith an RTP audio session may be increased by one unit each time theaudio is sampled. For example, with an audio sampling frequency of16,000 samples per second (16 kHz), if each RTP packet contains 20milliseconds (ms) of audio, each consecutive RTP packet may incrementthe timestamp field by 320 units, e.g., 0.02 seconds×16,000samples/second, if there are no pauses between consecutive packets. Thevideo samples may use a predetermined frequency, e.g., 90 kHz, or 60kHz.

Multimedia player 101 may use the timestamp field of the RTP packets tocalculate the moment of playing for each portion of the content sent ineach RTP packet. The timestamp value of the RTP packets also may allowthe multimedia player 101 to synchronize different streams of the samesession. For example, an audio stream may be synchronized with a videostream, such that if the 20-minute and 10.4-second video moment is beingplayed, the 20-minute 10.4-second audio moment also may be played.

The present invention may utilize the continuity of the timestamp fieldof the RTP packets. Specifically, streaming servers 100 may not rely onthe timestamp data stored in the files that contain the multimediacontent, but rather that the timestamp field of the RTP packets may begenerated in the streaming server 100 in real time, which may takinginto account the RTSP commands that the user sends to the streamingserver 100. The timestamp field of the RTP packets may not correspond toan index that indicates a portion of the multimedia file, but rather maycorrespond to a clock that operates in the streaming server 100, and maybe configured to increase linearly and constantly, and may not stop eventhough the user sends an RTSP PAUSE message. Streaming server 100 thusmay use the RTSP and RTP protocols to transmit the virtual file 330instead of the normal file 310 when there is an advertising skip.

The streaming server 100 may coordinate the RTSP module and the RTPmodule in order to perform the “virtual RTSP skip,” thereby “tricking”the multimedia player 101 by sending the virtual file 330 instead ofperforming the requested skip 319 and sending the content 313 of thefile 310. To do this, streaming server 100 may modify the normalrelationship between the Normal Play Time (“NPT”) parameter of the RTSPmessages and the timestamp field of the RTP packets.

The multimedia player 101 may not be capable of calculating, for thecontent of each RTP packet, to which portion of the total content thatthe content of the RTP packet belongs, solely by using the timestampfield of the RTP packets. To make this calculation, the multimediaplayer 101 may need an initial reference that relates a specific momentin the playing of the multimedia file to the values that each of theclocks, used to generate the RTP timestamp values of each of the streamsthat form the multimedia file, has at that specific moment. For example,the multimedia player 101 may need to know that the 3.25-second momentof the playing of a multimedia file corresponds to an RTP timestampvalue=12345678 of the audio stream, and an RTP timestamp value=29567112of the video stream.

With this initial reference information, the multimedia player 101 maycalculate the playing moment that each received RTP packet of audio andvideo corresponds to, as a function of the RTP timestamp value of eachpacket and the initial reference. Moreover, this initial referenceinformation may allow the multimedia player 101 to synchronize the audioand video.

Streaming servers that use the RTSP and RTP protocols may send thisinformation that relates one moment in the playing of a multimedia fileto the RTP timestamp values of each stream to the multimedia player byusing a plurality of, e.g., two, headers of the RTSP messages, which maybe called “Range” and “RTP-Info.” These headers may be included in theRESPONSE messages that the streaming server 100 may send to themultimedia player 101 in response to the PLAY messages that themultimedia player 101 sends to the streaming server 100.

The Range header of an RTSP message may indicate the play time range,and an initial moment that may be used as initial reference may beincluded. The Range header may code its information in various ways,e.g., by using Normal Play Time, e.g., “NPT,” which may indicate theabsolute position of the stream relative to the start of thepresentation. The NPT parameter may comprise a decimal fraction. Theleft part of the decimal fraction may be seconds or hours, minutes andseconds. The right part may be fractions of seconds. For example,“Range:npt=3.25−15” may be understood to mean that a portion of thecontent is being played that begins at 3.25 seconds and ends at 15seconds of a multimedia file that may contain multiple streams. The NPTparameter is explained in detail in paragraph 3.6 of the RFC 2326,referenced previously. In many popular media players, e.g. the MediaPlayer™ from Microsoft™, the NPT may be the clock that the multimediaplayer 101 displays for the user to associate with the content. In somesystems, information in minutes and seconds may be shown in a lowerright corner of multimedia player 101. For example, multimedia player101 may display “39:50” which may inform the user that the content showncorresponds to 39 minutes 50 seconds from the beginning of a video. Inother embodiments, the Range header may also use other parameters tocode its information, such as the SMPTE parameter, explained inparagraph 3.5 of RFC 2326. For simplicity, only the NPT parameter willbe referenced with respect to these embodiments.

The field of the RTP-Info header of an RTSP message may compriseinformation related to the RTP packets of each stream transmitted usingfour fields called “url”, “ssrc”, “seq” and “rtptime.” The field called“rtptime” of the RPT-Info header may be the value of the timestamp fieldof the RTP packet whose content (payload) corresponds to the start ofthe range of the multimedia file indicated in the Range header. Thisinformation may be the initial reference that the multimedia player 101may use to associate each RTP packet of each stream with a specificmoment of the multimedia file. By using the combined information fromthe Range and RTP-Info headers included in the RTSP RESPONSE-typemessage that the streaming server 100 sends to the multimedia player 101in response to the PLAY message, the multimedia player 101 may relatethe NPT and timestamp values to each other and may associate each of thecontent of the file 310 to the content of each RTP packet.

When the streaming server 100 receives the second PLAY messagerequesting that the streaming server 100 transmit the content of thefile 310 starting from point 316, the streaming server 100 may respondwith a RESPONSE message that may have a value of the Range header thatindicates an initial range at point 336 and that may have a value of theRTP-Info header that indicates the value of the timestamp field of theRTP packets that the server will send with the content, corresponding tothe requested range.

Multimedia player 101 may receive the RESPONSE message with the Rangeand RTP-Info values. In this way the multimedia player 101 may associatethe value of the NPT parameter of the Range header, at the momentindicated by the arrow 336, with the values of the rtptime parameter ofeach stream. When the multimedia player 101 calculates the correspondingportion of the file for each RTP packet it receives, the multimediaplayer 101 may use NPT value corresponding to the play moment of thefile indicated with the arrow 316 as an initial reference.

Multimedia player 101 may indicate to the user that the RTP packets itis preparing to receive may correspond to the content portion 313, butstreaming server 100 may send the RTP packets that contain theinformation corresponding to the virtual file 330, and not to theoriginal file 310. In the virtual file 330, the portion of the filecorresponding to a range that begins at the arrow 336 is the portion 332that corresponds to advertising portion 312 of the file 310 that themultimedia player 101 is attempting to skip. In this way the streamingserver 100 may “trick” the multimedia player 101 and prevents multimediaplayer 101 from skipping advertising 312, since streaming server 100continues sending RTP packets that transmit the portion 332 of thevirtual file that corresponds to advertising portion 312 of file 310.

Using this process, the streaming server 100 may perform the “virtualRTSP skip” and transmit the virtual file 330 instead of the originalfile 310 without the multimedia player 101 detecting the virtual skip.

In an embodiment of the invention, the relationship between the valuesof the Range and RTP-Info headers also may be used to allow the initialsynchronization of the different streams, such that the multimediaplayer 101 may establish an initial relationship between the NPTparameter and the timestamps of the RTP packets of each stream.Nevertheless, synchronization between different streams, such as thosebetween the audio stream and the video stream, may be lost in atransmission. Thus, standard streaming servers also may use the RTCPprotocol to prevent and compensate for deviations in the synchronizationthat may occur in a long multimedia transmission that contains multiplestreams. To prevent deviations in the synchronization of differentstreams, such as in audio and video streams, streaming server 100regularly may send to the multimedia player messages, e.g., “SR”messages using the RTCP protocol. These SR messages may use a pluralityof, e.g., three, fields to keep different streams of the samepresentation synchronized. The fields may be called “SSRC,” “NetworkTime Protocol (“NTP”) timestamp” and “RTP timestamp,” for example.

The SSRC field may identify one stream of a presentation. The RTPtimestamp field may be the value of the RTP clock associated with eachstream when the streaming server 100 initiates the sampling of thecontent portion that is sent in each RTP packet, as discussedpreviously. The “NTP timestamp” field may be a reference clock that maybe common to the different streams that the streaming server 100 sendsin the same presentation, which also may be referred to as a“wallclock.” This clock may be common for the different streams of apresentation and may allow the multimedia player 101 to maintain thesynchronization of the different streams in long transmissions.

By sending these three values in the SR messages, the streaming server100 may indicate to the multimedia player 101 the correspondence betweenthe value of the wallclock and the RTP timestamp values of the clockwhich may be used to calculate the RTP timestamp value of the RTPpackets of each stream. The value of the RTP timestamp field of an SRmessage in the RTCP protocol of a specific stream may correspond to thevalue of the RTP clock associated with the stream at the time indicatedin the NTP timestamp value. In this way, the streaming server 100 alsomay allow synchronization of different streams in a long transmission.

In an embodiment of the invention, streaming server 100 may calculatethe values of the fields of the SR messages of the RTCP protocol and theRTP packets from the virtual file 330 instead of the normal file 310. Inother words, the value of the RTP timestamp field of an RTP packet of aspecific stream may correspond to the value of the RTP clock associatedwith the stream at the moment sampling begins of the portion of thevirtual file 330, which may be sent in the RTP packet.

Nevertheless, in FIG. 3, the area 335 of the virtual file 330 may notcorrespond with any portion of the original file 310. Moreover, thevirtual file 330 may be longer than the original file 310. This may leadto a termination of the multimedia transmission before the user finishesviewing the content. This additional content portion which may not beviewed is illustrated in FIG. 3 as content portion 334.

In another embodiment of the invention, as shown in FIG. 4, streamingserver 100 may create a first virtual file 420 from the multimedia file310 that may correspond to multimedia file 310 explained in FIG. 3. Whenstreaming server 100 receives the SETUP and PLAY messages in order toplay the content of a multimedia file 310, streaming server 100 maybegin the transmission from the beginning a virtual file 420 that maycomprise one or more areas of non-obligatory advertising 426 andmultiple messages 427, 428 and 429.

The non-obligatory advertising portion 426, for example, may be relatedto the content portion, e.g., advertising about new movies. Byincreasing the length of the virtual file and including new content thatmay be played in the area of the “virtual skip” 335, the multimediatransmission may be prevented from terminating before the user finishesviewing the content, as shown in area 334 of FIG. 3. Advertisingportions 421 and 422, and content portion 423 of virtual file 420 maycorrespond to advertising portions 311 and 312, and content portion 313of digital file 310. Similarly to FIG. 3, advertising portion 442 ofvirtual file 440 may correspond to segment 422 of virtual file 420, asshown by arrows 431 and 432.

If a multimedia player sends a second PLAY message whose play rangebegins at 416, the streaming server 100 may create a new virtual file440 and may perform a “virtual skip” as explained above with respect toFIG. 3. The virtual RTSP skip of the file 420 to the file 440 may beindicated by the broken lines 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436 and 437. Oncethe virtual file 440 has been created, the streaming server 100 maytransmit portions of the new virtual file 440 using the same RTSPsession used to send the file 420. By this “virtual skip,” advertisingportion 442, which may correspond to advertising portions 422 and 312 ofvirtual file 420 and digital file 310, respectively, may play prior toplaying the content. Additionally, messages 427, 428, and 429 fromvirtual file 420 may correspond to messages 447, 448, and 449 in virtualfile 440, as shown by broken lines 434, 435, 436, and 437.

In this way, by increasing the size of the virtual file 420 that may betransmitted at the time the second PLAY message is received, thetransmission may not end without playing the area 334, as shown in FIG.3. In the virtual file 440, area 445 may correspond to a portion of thenon-obligatory advertising 426. This correspondence may be indicated inFIG. 4 with the broken line arrow 438. Thus, if the user sends a thirdPLAY message that may begin the play range in the area 445, the servermay transmit the non-obligatory advertising 426.

In the virtual file 440, the advertising portion that already has beenviewed, e.g., advertising portion 441 may correspond to advertisingportion 421 in virtual file 420, and advertising portion 311 in file310. The beginning of file 310 may correspond to the beginning ofvirtual files 420 and 440, as shown by broken lines 324 and 497,respectively. Further, the point 315 at which the second PLAY message isreceived in file 310 may correspond to similar locations in virtualfiles 420 and 440, as shown by broken lines 325 and 496, respectively.

In an embodiment of the invention as shown in FIG. 5, when the userinstructs multimedia player 101 to send the second PLAY message withstart of play at 526, the streaming server 100 may create a new virtualfile 540 that first may transmit a multimedia message 547 beforecontinuing to transmit the obligatory advertising 542 and the content543. In this embodiment, obligatory advertising 542 may be inserted intovirtual file 540 after multimedia message 547 is inserted into virtualfile 540, as shown by broken lines 531 and 532. Multimedia message 547may correspond to multimedia message 527 of virtual file 520, as shownby broken line 535. The multimedia message 547 may make an indication tothe user, e.g., that the user may be viewing content financed byadvertising and that the advertising may not be skipped. In anembodiment of the invention, the streaming server 100 may end themultimedia transmission if the multimedia player 101 sends another PLAYmessage to skip the advertising.

In still another embodiment of the invention, shown in FIG. 6, amultimedia player 101 may receive a multimedia file 620, and may send asecond PLAY message with initial range at the point indicated by thearrow 626, in order to skip the portion 622 with advertising. Thestreaming server 100 creates a new virtual file 640 that transmits amultimedia message 648, which may correspond to message 628 of virtualfile 620, as shown by broken line 635. Virtual file 640 also may includenon-obligatory advertising 644, which may correspond to non-obligatoryadvertising 624 of virtual file 620. Multimedia message 648 may have aduration of 10 seconds, for example, and may notify the user that hemust go back to see the advertising again within 10 seconds.

If the multimedia player 101 sends a reverse PLAY message within 10seconds, returning to a play point prior to the point 625 that thestreaming server 100 was transmitting when the user performed the skip,then the streaming server 100 may return to using virtual file 620 andmay continue the advertising transmission 622. In FIG. 6, the reversePLAY message is indicated by line 649.

If the multimedia player 101 does not send a reverse PLAY message withinthe 10 seconds of the message 648, then the streaming server 100continues transmitting the message 648 and ends the transmission of themultimedia file.

FIG. 7 shows another virtual file which, similarly to the embodimentshown in FIG. 6, may create virtual file 740, and may transmit a message748, which may correspond to message 728 of virtual file 720, as shownby broken line 735, to the multimedia player 101. Unlike the embodimentshown in FIG. 6, however, in FIG. 7, the streaming server 100 may notwait for a reverse PLAY message. In this embodiment, streaming server100 simply may transmit message 748 and may end the transmission. Themessage 748, for example, may notify the user that he has performed anunauthorized skip of the advertising and it is going to terminate thetransmission.

In an embodiment of the invention, fast-forwarding through portions ofcontent also may be prevented. In the RTSP protocol, the fast forwardmay operate, such that when the streaming server 100 is transmitting attwice the normal speed, the streaming server 100 may only send RTPpackets only one out of every two video images to the multimedia player101. If the speed is four times normal speed, the streaming server 100only may send one out of every four images, and so on. The RTSP protocolmay use a header called “Scale” that is explained in paragraph 12.34 ofthe RFC 2326, the related portions of which are described herein.

A value of 1 in the Scale header may instruct the streaming server 100to transmit the content to the multimedia player 101 at normal playspeed. If the Scale value is not 1, then the value may indicate theratio at which content may be transmitted with respect to the normalplay speed, e.g., a ratio of 2 instructs the streaming server 100 totransmit at twice the normal speed. Similarly, a ratio of 0.5 mayinstruct streaming server 100 to transmit the content at half the normalspeed. A negative ratio may instruct streaming server 100 to play thecontent in reverse, e.g., in the direction that goes from the end of thecontent toward the beginning of the content.

A multimedia player 101 that is playing a multimedia file, e.g., a filecontaining content 420 in FIG. 4, may send a PLAY message to thestreaming server 100 with a Scale value of 2, such that the advertisingplays quickly. In an embodiment of the invention, the streaming server100 may consider the fast forward as equivalent to skipping theadvertising, and proceeding as explained in FIGS. 3 to 7.

Using the embodiment described with respect to FIG. 4 as an example, ifthe multimedia player 101 is playing the content of a file 420 and atpoint 325 the player sends a message to the server to increase the speedof play, the streaming server 100 may transmits the content at therequested speed. When the transmitted content reaches point 416 themultimedia player 101 again may send another PLAY message with a startrange at 416 and normal play speed in order to view the content atnormal speed. Upon receiving this second PLAY message, the streamingserver 100 may detect that all of the advertising 422 has not beentransmitted, and thereby may treats the fast forward command as a PLAYmessage, in the manner described previously. Other combinations that usemessages like the ones explained in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are also applicableand make it possible to manage fast forward as a way of skippingdifferent forms using different virtual files that may comprise messagesfor a user who is using a multimedia player.

In still another embodiment of the invention, streaming server 100 maychoose among different types of virtual files, depending on the type ofmultimedia player 101 used in the equipment 102. In order to detect thetype of multimedia player, the streaming server 100 may use the headercalled “User-Agent” that indicates in the RTSP messages the multimediaplayer that is sending them. The RFC 2326 specifications, in paragraph12.41, refer to paragraph 14.42 of the specifications for the HTTPprotocol to explain the “User-Agent” field.

Although the RTSP protocol is a common specification, each multimediaplayer 101 may implement it in a particular manner. Moreover, there areparts of the RTSP protocol that the RFC 2326 considers optional. In anembodiment of the invention, streaming server 100 selects the mode ofoperation, e.g., one of the modes described with respect to FIGS. 4-7based on the type of multimedia player 101. By adapting the mode ofoperation of the streaming server 100 to each type of multimedia player101, the streaming server 100 also may detect if multimedia player 101is an unauthorized type used to avoid viewing advertising or forunauthorized uses of the content and avoid it. Thus, the streamingserver 100 may store this information about unauthorized players in itsdatabase 108.

An example of unauthorized multimedia player is an application installedin the same equipment 102 as the multimedia player 101 and that may notplay the multimedia file while it is downloading, but rather may belimited to storing the content of the multimedia file in the equipment102 in order to be able to play it later, directly from the equipment102 without needing to connect to the streaming server 100, by takingadvantage of the multimedia player cache.

When the streaming server 100 detects an unauthorized player, streamingserver 100 may send a RESPONSE error message to the multimedia player ornot process the PLAY message and not send the corresponding RESPONSEmessage, or streaming server 100 may send a RESPONSE message as thoughit had processed the PLAY message, but nevertheless may ignore it. Itmay also occur that a user uses an authorized multimedia player 101 in away that avoids viewing the advertising. For example, a user may use anInternet browser that may comprise a plug-in that is a multimedia player101 in common use, but instead of playing a multimedia file, the usermay use the browser's “Save As” option to keep the multimedia filewithout playing it while it is downloading. In this case, streamingserver 100 may detect this unauthorized use, for example analyzing theRTCP control messages that the multimedia player 101 sends to thestreaming server 100 and may terminate the transmission if it detectsthat the multimedia player 101 is not playing the multimedia file whileit is being downloaded.

The streaming server 100 may prevent the multimedia player 101 frombeing able to play the content of a file more than once without seeingthe advertising again. Thus, the streaming server 100 may generate a newvirtual file, e.g. the virtual file 420 shown in FIG. 4, under specificcircumstances that are explained herein. The streaming server 100 mayaccount for time elapsed since a transmission of the content portionthat a user instructs a multimedia player 101 to request to play again.For example, a user may use a multimedia player 101 to view all of theadvertising before viewing a movie that is transmitted from thestreaming server 100, and may wish to see specific scenes again within afew minutes or hours, which may be allowed, but after a few days orweeks, may be disallowed by streaming server 100 unless the user viewsthe advertising portion again.

In order to manage this operation, streaming server 100 may use the“Cache-Control” and “Expires” headers in the RTSP messages thatstreaming server 100 sends to the multimedia player 101, e.g., in theRESPONSE message that streaming server 100 sends in response to a SETUPmessage from the multimedia player 101.

The Cache-Control header and its operation are explained in paragraphs12.8 and 13 of the RFC 2326. The Expires header is explained inparagraph 12.19 of the RFC 2326. The Cache-Control header may regulatethe operation of the different cache devices located between thestreaming server 100 and the multimedia player 101, including the cacheof multimedia player 101. The Expires header may report when amultimedia content or a description file of a multimedia contentexpires. A cache device may be configured to disallow the transmissionof expired content, and to contact the streaming server 100 in order toreceive updated content. By using the headers, streaming server 100 mayoperate to create a new virtual file with advertising, or allow theadvertising to be skipped, depending on the time elapsed since ittransmitted a multimedia file.

For example, the streaming server 100 may use the “must-revalidate”value in the Cache-Control header of the RESPONSE message that streamingserver 100 sends to the multimedia player 101 in response to a SETUPmessage. This value of the Cache-Control header may indicate to thecache devices that the cache devices should not transmit an expiredcontent without first validating it with the streaming server 100. Thecontent may expire at the time indicated in the Expires header. Thismethod is not provided for in the RTSP protocol, since it marks contentwhich has not actually expired, as expired content. The marking ofunexpired content as expired may be carried out in order to allow thecreation of a new virtual file in the streaming server 100, and to allowinsertion of new advertising when a certain amount of time has elapsed,e.g., 24 hours. Other embodiments of the invention may use theCache-Control and Expires headers in other ways in order to accomplishthe same objective. For example, streaming server 100 may give the“no-cache” value to the Cache-Control header, indicating that themultimedia transmission may not be stored in any cache. Streaming server100 also may use a cache control or other system, depending on the typeof multimedia player used.

FIG. 8 illustrates the verification process used by the streaming server100 to verify whether the advertising has been transmitted, according toan embodiment of the invention. The streaming server 100 may receive aPLAY-type RTSP message at step 801, which may comprise a Range header.The Range header may comprise an initial range and final range, and theinitial range may not correspond with the beginning of the multimediafile. At step 802 the streaming server 100 may perform the verificationof whether RTP packets with all of the advertising have been transmittedfrom the multimedia file that may be located prior to the initial range.

If the streaming server 100 has transmitted all of the advertising fromthe multimedia file prior to the initial range, then at step 803 thestreaming server 100 may process the PLAY message normally and maytransmit the range of multimedia content indicated in the PLAY message.In this way, a user may move about freely in the portions of the filewhose advertising the user has already viewed. For example, if all ofthe advertising is at the beginning of the file, this may allow the userto instruct the multimedia player 101 to go forward or backward freelyin the multimedia file in order to choose the content that the userwants to see. Nevertheless, if in the verification at step 802, thestreaming server 100 detects that all of the advertising has not beentransmitted from the multimedia file before the initial range, thestreaming server 100 may go to step 804, in which a PLAY message whichcontains instructions to skip an advertisement may be processed by thestreaming server 100. This may cause streaming server 100 to execute oneof the operations to continue playing the advertising, e.g., theoperations described with respect to FIGS. 4-7. At step 805, the processmay terminate.

While the invention has been described in connection with preferredembodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatother variations and modifications of the preferred embodimentsdescribed above may be made without departing from the scope of theinvention. Other embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in theart from a consideration of the specification or practice of theinvention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification andthe described examples are considered as exemplary of the claimedinvention, the scope of which is indicated by the following claims.

1. A method comprising: storing in a storage medium of a streamingserver advertising-sponsored content; receiving in the streaming servera request message from a multimedia player to transmit theadvertising-sponsored content to the multimedia player; determining bythe streaming server if the multimedia player is being used in anunauthorized way to avoid viewing of advertising content sponsoring theadvertising-sponsored content; and either transmitting theadvertising-sponsored content to the multimedia player if the multimediaplayer is determined not to be used in the unauthorized way or nottransmitting the advertising-sponsored content to the multimedia playerif the multimedia player is determined to be used in the unauthorizedway; wherein the streaming server determines if the multimedia player isbeing used in the unauthorized way by identifying if the multimediaplayer is a plug-in of an internet browser and if theadvertising-sponsored content is being saved using the browser's “SaveAs” or similar type option.
 2. A method according to claim 1 wherein thestreaming server sends to the multimedia player an error message upondetermining that the multimedia player is being used in the unauthorizedway.
 3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the streaming server doesnot process the request message of the multimedia player upondetermining that the multimedia player is being used in the unauthorizedway.
 4. A method according to claim 1 wherein the streaming serverterminates communication with the multimedia player upon determiningthat the multimedia player is being used in the unauthorized way.
 5. Amethod according to claim 1 wherein the streaming server sends a messageto the multimedia player acknowledging receipt of the request messagewithout transmitting the advertising-sponsored content to the multimediaplayer upon the streaming server determining that the multimedia playeris being used in the unauthorized way.
 6. A method according to claim 1wherein the streaming server communicates with the multimedia playerusing a streaming protocol, the streaming server analyzing the controlmessages sent from the multimedia player to determine if the browser's“Save As” or similar type option is being used.
 7. A streaming serverhaving a storage medium that stores advertising-sponsored content, thestreaming server storing executable instructions, executable by acomputer processor, for performing the steps of: receiving a requestmessage from a multimedia player to transmit the advertising-sponsoredcontent to the multimedia player; determining if the multimedia playeris being used in an unauthorized way to avoid viewing of advertisingcontent sponsoring the advertising-sponsored content; and eithertransmitting the advertising-sponsored content to the multimedia playerif the multimedia player is determined not to be used in theunauthorized way or not transmitting the advertising-sponsored contentto the multimedia player if the multimedia player is determined to beused in the unauthorized way; wherein the streaming server determines ifthe multimedia player is being used in the unauthorized way byidentifying if the multimedia player is a plug-in of an internet browserand if the advertising-sponsored content is being saved using thebrowser's “Save As” or similar type option.
 8. A streaming serveraccording to claim 7 wherein the streaming server stores executableinstructions for sending to the multimedia player an error message upondetermining that the multimedia player is being used in the unauthorizedway.
 9. A streaming server according to claim 7 wherein the streamingserver stores executable instructions that cause the streaming servernot to process the request message of the multimedia player upondetermining that the multimedia player is being used in the unauthorizedway.
 10. A streaming server according to claim 7 wherein the streamingserver stores executable instructions for terminating communication withthe multimedia player upon determining that the multimedia player isbeing used in the unauthorized way.
 11. A streaming server according toclaim 7 wherein the streaming server stores executable instructions tosend a message to the multimedia player acknowledging receipt of therequest message without transmitting the advertising-sponsored contentto the multimedia player upon the streaming server determining that themultimedia player is being used in the unauthorized way.
 12. A streamingserver according to claim 7 wherein the streaming server communicateswith the multimedia player using a streaming protocol, the streamingserver analyzing the control messages sent from the multimedia player todetermine if the browser's “Save As” or similar type option is beingused.